Daily Brew: November 20, 2018

November 20, 2018

Today's Brew brings you an update on Mississippi's pending Senate election + news about the Affordable Care Act   Welcome to the Tuesday, November 20 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: One week until Hyde-Smith and Espy face off again in MS Senate special election runoff 192 new incoming officeholders completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey Trump administration released two opt-out rules for Affordable Care Act contraception mandate One week until Hyde-Smith and Espy face off again in MS Senate special election runoff Incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) faces former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (D) in the U.S. Senate special election in Mississippi runoff next Tuesday, November 27. The result of this race will leave the U.S. Senate partisan count at either 52-48 (if Espy wins) or 53-47 (if Hyde-Smith wins). They advanced to the runoff after competing against Tobey Bartee (D) and state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) in the nonpartisan special election on November 6, and no candidate won a majority of the vote. Hyde-Smith received 42 percent of the vote and Espy 41 percent. President Donald Trump (R) will campaign for Hyde-Smith at rallies in Tupelo and Biloxi on November 26. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is also expected to spend more than $1 million on the race to boost Hyde-Smith. U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) campaigned for Espy in Jackson on Saturday while the Senate Majority PAC spent more than $400,000 on advertising that began running Friday. No Democrat has represented Mississippi since John C. Stennis in 1989. The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of Sen. Thad Cochran's (R) term until January 3, 2021. Read up on the two candidates 192 new incoming officeholders completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey Before their Election Day victory, nearly 200 of the nation's newly-elected officeholders took the time to participate in Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Overall, more than 2,000 candidates at the federal, state, and local levels of government participated. In 2018, Ballotpedia introduced Candidate Connection in order to help candidates present a more robust picture of themselves and to help voters learn more about the individuals on their ballot. The questions were designed to elicit insightful and thoughtful responses from candidates on what they cared about, what they stood for, and what they hoped to achieve. Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection project, which will continue in the 2019 and 2020 elections, provided voters with detailed and personalized candidate information so that they could feel confident about voting for the best person to represent them. Learn more→ Trump administration released two opt-out rules for Affordable Care Act contraception mandate The Departments of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Labor announced two final rules that relaxed contraception requirements under the Affordable Care Act. The rules provide flexibility to employers with moral or religious objections to health insurance plans that cover contraception and sterilization. Under the new rules, those employers would be able to offer alternative health insurance plans without such coverage. The agencies issued the rules following a process called notice-and-comment rulemaking. That process allows agencies to amend, repeal, or create administrative regulations after considering public feedback on proposed rules. You can learn more here→